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THE RUSSIAN CIVIL WAR
Workers' Russia was not greeted by a revolution in Germany, by warm arms and offers of fraternal assistance. Instead, it was g...
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THE RUSSIAN CIVIL WAR
Workers' Russia was not greeted by a revolution in Germany, by warm arms and offers of fraternal assistance. Instead, it was greeted by the invasion of 17 armies from 14 countries. Alone, isolated, encircled, revolutionary Russia undertook the heroic task of defending itself.
On 18 February 1918 the German army declared itself at war with revolutionary Russia. In under two weeks German troops marched 125 miles into Russia, arming White troops, and sweeping aside the Red Guards and the remnants of the old army units at Narva, within 100 miles of Petrograd. They landed in Finland and backed the White terror that smashed the revolutionary government there, costing 20,000 lives. The new revolutionary government, barely three months old, faced enormous danger.
Germany demanded huge swathes of Russia in return for halting its advance. The Bolsheviks had no choice. Lenin argued: "We are now powerless. German imperialism has gripped us by the throat... give me an army of 100,000 men, but it must be a strong, steadfast army that will not tremble at the sight of the foe, and I will not sign the peace treaty." That was exactly what the revolution did not have, and the Bolsheviks agreed to sign the peace on 19 February. The next day the decree was issued for the formation of the Red Army.
Under the leadership of Trotsky, a Red Army was created that for nearly three years criss-crossed Russia battling the armies of world capitalism. The initial defence of the revolution had been a volunteer army based on the armed workers, the Red Guard. Such slender and disorganised forces were hopelessly inadequate. The desperate circumstances of occupation, and a reinvigorated White army aided and trained by the Allies, demanded a centralised and disciplined mass army.
Leon Trotsky was charged with the task of building such an army. Trotsky's strategy was to construct a regular standing army, to disperse the soldiers' committees, and to recruit officers from the old army as 'military specialists'. Thereby, Trotsky introduced political commissars (members of the Communist Party who supervise the political and ideological education of the troops) into the Red Army, in which latter were responsible for ensuring the loyalty of military experts and co-signing their orders.
By 1918 there were 165,000 military specialists in the Red Army. In each of its 16 armies political commissars were appointed to match the military commanders, countersigning every order and taking responsibility for political morale. As the Civil War wore on, the numbers of Communist Party members in the army rose from 180,000 in October 1919 to 278,000 in August 1920, replacing many of the military specialists. Large numbers of workers who joined the party went straight to the fronts. The revolutionaries were crucial in organising both within the army and in White areas among the local populations. The Civil War was fought on the principle of spreading the revolution.
Political education for soldiers was a priority, summed up in the first emblem of the army, a hammer and sickle with a rifle and a book. Each army had a political department which, despite desperate shortages, poured out pamphlets, newspapers, posters and leaflets. They set up mobile libraries and reading courses to fight illiteracy and to enable soldiers to take an active part in the new society. By the end of the Civil War there were 3,000 Red Army schools, and every soldiers' club had a reading room. As Trotsky wrote in his autobiography: "For us, the tasks of education in socialism were closely integrated with those of fighting. Ideas that enter the mind under fire remain there securely and forever."
In the summer of 1918 conscription was introduced in working class areas and the parts of Russia under immediate threat. Hundreds of thousands responded to the first call ups, despite being exhausted from years of fighting. The army grew from 331,000 in August 1918 to over 600,000 by the end of the year. This was the beginning of the force, eventually 5 million strong, which would triumph against the odds after nearly three years of fighting.
Trotsky was awarded with the Order of the Red Banner for your successfull actions in the Russian Civil War. With all due reason, Ernest Léderrey affirmed: "It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that Trotsky was the principal responsible for the victory in the Civil War".
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